Some critics attacked Oliver Parker's recent version of The Importance of Being Earnest for its attempt to make a movie out of this most hermetic of drawing room comedies. His strategy? Introduce improbable dream sequences and foolish flashbacks of made-up histories for some of the characters. Parker's desire to "cinematize" the movie is understandable given modern audiences' impatience with filmed plays, but it can also be read as a specific response to the faithful, almost idolatrous approach to author Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest seen in Anthony Asquith's celebrated 1952 version.